Someone with a sense of perspective finally puts forward a rational post. The amount of misplaced fanboy rage has reached ludicours proportions lately. I can understand the frustration of missing one preorder opportunity after another, and even some of the annoyance at Bandai for creating the scarcity, perceived or real. But the all consuming envy and hatred expressed lately is disturbing to say the least. It's a toy, just a toy, and nothing but a toy. If some others were in a position to place multiple orders to secure at least one sample, or because they want more than one copy, or have the entrepreneurial spirit to get many to sell later for a profit, good for them. This unseemly coveting of what others have purchased, and vilification of them for making said purchases, says far more about the person raging on about the unfairness of it all than it does about those who are the target of said rage.

Just my 2 cents.

Well if you are going to do a social analysis, there's enough people who call too many to list morally reprehensible acts... enterpreneurial spirit. Buying numbers of a rare item you know someone else is looking for, just to make sure they don't find it and pay you for having produced nothing, or offered some sort of service- such as asking a proxy service to acquire a Tamashii exclusive and then hitting you with a premium-, just simply acting as a hindrance, is wrong. My opinion, and i'm simply posting it, i won't try to shove it down anyone's throat. I am not a communist either btw, on the contrary.

The collectors code to "buy only one" is more what you'd call a "guideline" then an actual rule....yar

There's a code? There is one caveat to that though, I like to display my Valks in each of the various forms. So that means for any one release that's three you need for F/G/B modes. it gets even more complicated if they've got Fast Packs/armor/etc... The VF1's are easy, there's so many variants you just by one of each and you're bound to have every possible combination. When there's the potential that only Alto's 171 will be made now people have to decide how many they want in order to display it in the various modes... plus there's the EX Armor yet to released as well.

Well if you are going to do a social analysis, there's enough people who call too many to list morally reprehensible acts... enterpreneurial spirit. Buying numbers of a rare item you know someone else is looking for, just to make sure they don't find it and pay you for having produced nothing, or offered some sort of service- such as asking a proxy service to acquire a Tamashii exclusive and then hitting you with a premium-, just simply acting as a hindrance, is wrong. My opinion, and i'm simply posting it, i won't try to shove it down anyone's throat. I am not a communist either btw, on the contrary.

Don't you just love capitalism? I have clients come to me all the time asking me for "ethical" investments. I nearly laugh my ass off every time. When it comes to business and money, it's about what you can legally get away with. Unfortunately, there will always be a market where people are going to buy extras and unload at higher prices just because they can. There is nothing actually wrong with it. It just sucks when we're all fighting for a piece of the same small pie. We're not talking about selling water during a water shortage anyway. These are just toys. What sucks is that Bandai created this atmosphere by deliberately producing very small numbers of stock when the demand is ripe for way more. If people are going to be angry, they should direct it at Bandai, and not at other collectors. What's that saying? Don't hate the playa, hate the game?

There's a code? There is one caveat to that though, I like to display my Valks in each of the various forms. So that means for any one release that's three you need for F/G/B modes. it gets even more complicated if they've got Fast Packs/armor/etc... The VF1's are easy, there's so many variants you just by one of each and you're bound to have every possible combination. When there's the potential that only Alto's 171 will be made now people have to decide how many they want in order to display it in the various modes... plus there's the EX Armor yet to released as well.

I thought about trying to display every valk in every mode, but I just can't afford it. (Honestly, I don't know how some on here can afford their habits. Clearly I need a better job, haha).

Unfortunately, there will always be a market where people are going to buy extras and unload at higher prices just because they can. There is nothing actually wrong with it. It just sucks when we're all fighting for a piece of the same small pie. We're not talking about selling water during a water shortage anyway. These are just toys.

Well said. I mean, supply and demand is a two-way street, and collectors are just as complicit in enabling those who make a buck that way. If the collecting community decided "screw it, it's just a toy", and refused to pay inflated prices, then anyone who buys a bunch and tries to resell them would be stuck with back inventory and make no money. They'd learn a lesson and stop (unless they enjoy losing money or having 10 copies of a toy). But, people just gotta have their stuff, so as long as someone pays their prices, they're telling the resellers what they do is smart and profitable, and implicitly giving them permission to continue.

Pet peeve: market pricing is not "capitalism," merely the interaction of supply and demand. It's an instrumental value (a tool), rather than a goal value (a result). There's nothing morally objectionable about market pricing in the abstract, as it usually produces the most efficient allocative result. We can and do object to market pricing in certain situations of extreme scarcity when the result is morally reprehensible, say, the price of water after a natural disaster. As others have noted, Valk pricing hardly fits into this category. In fact, we usually like market pricing for Valks when it protects the value of our "investment."

Transforming back from soap-box mode now. My apologies for the rant. Best, MyClone

Couldn't you just have one toy and transform it? I mean that's what they say it does on the package.

This is what I do, as I suspect most do as well. For example, with the renewals, I have the 25F in fighter, 25S in battroid (soon to be with armour once that is released) and if Michel and Luca's valks ever get released, one of them will be in gerwalk.

To be fair, eBay has been a good resource for me over the years. With patience, deals can be found, and I have had to rely on those scalpers in the past. So in a way, they do provide some sort of service. You just have to weigh what a toy is worth to you. For example: instead of me spending time and gas driving around to hunt down all the toys from a certain wave, I prefer to just hit up ebay and pay a bit extra to get everything delivered to me. It's just that it's easier to pay a few bucks more for a $10 item, than it is to pay, oh, $150 more on a $150 item, haha. That said, if that's your only choice, then so be it. It is what it is. Personally, I'd rather be able to pay my mortgage or save for retirement than pay double what a valk cost at retail. That's kind of why I don't collect vintage valks. I just don't think it's worth it.

This thread is becoming more an more "LOL" by the day. From rages against Bandai to raging against collectors smirkily looking out for their own profit, a wide spectrum of hate can be seen.

Honestly though guys, if you think about it, it's a toy. Albeit an expensive one, it is what it is. A hunk of plastic that changes shape to emulate a fighter plane you see on the TV. I love macross just as much as the next guy, but I see fault on both extremes. The guys who haven't got a pre-order (that's also me btw) and want one should chillax and stop blaming everyone for their lack of one, and just wait it out. If you get one, you get one, if not, too bad, but you can move on (unless you're some crazy cult follower of the VF-171 and construct the confines of your life to revolve around it, at which point, I don't think dropping the $250 you'll need to get one off eBay will be a big deal). On the other hand, the guys ordering cases of these are pretty LOL too.

Calm down guys, and take a rational look at things. And let's not hate....

Can't beleive there's X amount of pages of just whining and crying over a toy (got bored after skimming back 5 pages for the last bit of "real" news). In fact the last bit of real news that I saw was an add back on page 16... The rest is nonsensical whining and crying over pre-orders with a small splash of want for a CF scheme.

“Sold out signs in less than 5 minutes. Orders closed on the 15th of March. About 60 have been sold on Yahoo auctions according to aucfan and more keep showing up. Stores fear low supply…

Will everyone get their preorders? Will this be the most expensive aftermarket MF release? Will scalpers drown on them? Will Bandai flood the market with other versions? Will this be forgotten soon after release?

From the company that brought you “VF-25” and “VF-25 II: Fugly no more (but a bit loose)” comes the wallet raping event of the summer:

I understand people really wanting this toy, and getting a little t'ed off at the situation, but if you guys don't overreact, and concentrate on finding one, you might actually do so. It's still a little too early to say what will happen come release date. Bandai may just decide to make more for the initial release. It sucks not being able to get one for those that want it, but I'm sure it'll all pan out. At least this isn't as bad as the Max and Miriya 1J v.2.

Yeah, that brings up another point. I like how people are picking up pre-orders like crazy and stuff, and yet we've seen about 4 promo pics for this thing, and have barely gotten a hint of the features.

Yeah, that brings up another point. I like how people are picking up pre-orders like crazy and stuff, and yet we've seen about 4 promo pics for this thing, and have barely gotten a hint of the features.

Yeah, that brings up another point. I like how people are picking up pre-orders like crazy and stuff, and yet we've seen about 4 promo pics for this thing, and have barely gotten a hint of the features.

but those promo ads do list the features

I mean it's a Valkyrie, it's got hands and feet and is a jet with arms